Negotiations and Decision-Making in the European Union: Teaching and Learning through Role-Play Simulation Games

Revision with unchanged content. Understanding the complex mechanisms of negotiations and decision-making in the EU is a difficult task, even for trained experts. For students who are just learning about the field, trying to untangle this complexity is even more challenging. Even though more and more scholars agree that cooperative learning methods are effective tools for teaching about international institutions, these approaches are still neglected in the area of European policy-making. This study is an attempt to address the neglect. The authors suggest that role-play simulation games, if implemented with sufficient supervision, are exceptional instruments for learning and teaching in higher education courses. Drawing on a broad theoretical framework of negotiation and education theory, the authors develop a concept for simulation game scenarios that can conveniently be applied to classroom-based instruction on the EU. The book addresses both university lecturers and professionals, who are teaching in the area of EU institutions, negotiations and decision-making.